The video shows a school monitor reported to be Ben Fields – who is also a Richland county sheriff's deputy – confronting the female student. When she refuses to leave her seat in a classroom at Spring Valley high school in Columbia, he tells her: "I'll make you." He then wraps his arm around her neck, flips her desk backward, then drags her across the floor. He arrested both the girl, and a male student. According to a classmate, the student in question had peeked at her cellphone during class. When the teacher tried to take the phone away, the student refused to hand it over, and when a school administrator told her to leave the class, she stayed at her desk, which is when Fields was summoned. The sheriff's department has placed Fields on administrative leave while it investigates the case.

The suit, which is scheduled to go to trial in January, stated that Fields "recklessly targets African-American students with allegations of gang membership and criminal gang activity" and wrongfully accused a former Spring Valley High School student, Ashton James Reese, of being involved in a "huge gang fight" at a Walmart parking lot near the school in January 2013…Fields quickly deleted his Twitter and Facebook accounts after the video came to light. But he can be seen in several videos posted four years ago by a fitness professional, Marc "Spud" Bartley. The deputy was also listed online as the defensive line and strength coach for Spring Valley's football team.

"Strength coach." "Fitness professional." In the NFL, these are well-known synonyms for "pharmacist."